SEQUIM — School officials have approved a settlement agreement with a teacher dismissed for reported “bullying and harassing” behavior toward students, but the legal document didn’t put an end to the wrangling over what happened at Sequim High School last November.
The teacher, Dave Trapp — who says he is now finally free to talk about the case — said the agreement vindicates his position that the students were accusing him to cover their own misbehavior.
He agreed to resign at the end of the school year and never seek employment with the Sequim School District again. He will remain on paid administrative leave until his retirement date.
The mother of one of the two students who reported being bullied, meanwhile, said she’s not satisfied with the resolution of the case — and she’s furious that Trapp accused the students involved of fabricating charges against him.
The agreement itself doesn’t say anything about clearing Trapp of the charges. It only acknowledges that Trapp doesn’t think he did anything wrong.
40-year teacher
Trapp, who was in his 40th year of teaching, was discharged in December following incidents with students on Nov. 17 and 19. He appealed his dismissal but went to school officials with an offer to settle and resign shortly before the scheduled hearing in the case.
“I think the settlement is in the best interests of the students, the district and the employee,” Schools Superintendent Garn Christensen said.
On Nov. 17, according to a school district’s report, Trapp was involved in a “skirmish” with a student over a bottle of Gatorade.
Trapp reached into the student’s sweatshirt pocket to grab the bottle. The incident reportedly left a red mark on the student’s abdomen that looked like finger scratches, and witnesses characterized the skirmish as “rough-housing” and “violent.”
On Nov. 19, a student reported that Trapp had bumped him twice and left a large red mark on his chest. School administrators wrote that they saw the red mark.
In their report, administrators also acknowledged that students in the class had varied accounts of what took place, but said “we still have 14 eyewitness statements from students that state they witnessed Mr. Trapp engage in inappropriate physical contact.”
In the notice informing Trapp of his discharge, Christensen noted these two incidents and four written reprimands in his record, one of which also involved striking a student.
Trapp had unsuccessfully appealed those reprimands.
Trapp denies having physical contact with either student in November.
His position is that the “students attempted to deflect attention from what themselves had done,” and he argued that whatever marks were on the students were most likely self-inflicted.
He also said that language in the settlement agreement backs up his position.
One sentence, he noted, states that he “always performed his professional duties in what he believed to be the best interests’ of his students.
Another notes that “it is expressly understood that (Trapp) does not acknowledge fault or any inappropriate or unprofessional conduct or any wrongdoing of any sort.”
“I think it was pretty clear that there was no bullying, and the past reprimands may have been significantly different than how they portrayed them in the charging document,” Trapp said.
“Perhaps there was no injury to the students other than what they created on their own.”
Trapp acknowledged that the sentences he cited read more like “agree to disagree” statements in which he and the district note they have different views of what took place.
He insisted, however, that legal concerns kept the agreement from being more explicit in exonerating him.
“My understanding is that there are liability issues involved that the district doesn’t want to say anything further,” he said. “That’s a guess — I can’t speak for the district.”
‘Agreement stands’
Christensen, however, said nothing in the settlement contradicts the district’s finding that Trapp behaved unprofessionally.
“I don’t read that,” he said. “The agreement stands as written, as signed. A settlement agreement doesn’t resolve all differences of opinion.”
Indeed, the district’s report on the matter noted several times that Trapp’s “lack of acceptance of any responsibility” for the complaints against him raised “red flags,” and described “a history of unprofessional conduct toward students.”
“He has still taken no personal responsibility for the incidents where he was formally reprimanded,” states the report, which was prepared by Mark Willis and Shawn Langston.
“This pattern is still evident with his complete lack of acceptance with the two current issues, as Mr. Trapp sees nothing wrong with his actions.”
Mother worried
The mother of one of the students involved in last November’s altercations said she sees plenty wrong with the district’s decision to settle the case with Trapp.
The woman — who asked not to be identified to protect her son — objected to Trapp’s characterization of her son and that Trapp conceivably could return to a classroom somewhere.
“Mr. Trapp made him out to be some kind of delinquent, or a vandal,” she said. “He’s a quiet boy . . . to insinuate that he marked himself — that’s appalling.”
She said the family considered filing criminal assault charges against Trapp but opted not to because school officials said they would handle it.
Settling the case with discharge and retirement doesn’t reflect the gravity of what happened, she said.
“He’s physically touched them. That’s an absolute no-no,” she said.
“I don’t think that he sees that anything he does is wrong. It was like (my son) was out to get him.
“Why would he do that?”
